1. Statement of the Technical Field
The inventive arrangements relate generally to the field of micro-opto-electrical-mechanical systems (MOEMS).
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of micro optical electromechanical systems (MOEMS) devices has proliferated in recent years. Currently, MOEMS devices are used in spectrometers, computing systems, probes, microfluidic devices, communications equipment, and numerous other applications. Nonetheless, new applications for MOEMS devices continue to be discovered.
MOEMS devices typically are made using semiconductor wafer fabrication techniques, for example using semiconductive materials and optical bandgap materials such as indium phosphide (InP) and indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs). Semiconductive materials, however, typically exhibit a high loss tangent at microwave and optical frequencies and have limited power handling capability. Moreover, the permittivity of semiconductors can vary significantly from DC to 40 GHz. Thus, although semiconductive materials may be used within certain components in a microwave circuit, semiconductive materials typically are not used as the primary substrate in such circuits.
A common material that is used as a primary substrate in microwave circuits is low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC). Notably, LTCC maintains a fairly constant permittivity from DC to over 40 GHz and LTCC provides a low loss tangent. Hence, LTCC can be used to realize a wide range of RF and microwave circuits. Notwithstanding the aforementioned advantages of LTCC, conventional LTCC substrate fabrication techniques require specific customized adaptive processes to accommodate InP and InGaAs subsystem components. Such fabrication processes usually are very complicated and costly to implement. In consequence, an efficient fabrication process for embedding MOEMS devices in LTCC has not been available.